Why League Golf Was My Game Changer

Growing up, I was never one for golf. It was boring, slow paced, and I thought it took no skill to hit a small white ball as far you could into a wide open field. How wrong I was! In 2003, I entered my first year of college and I made some friends who enjoyed the game of golf. I barely had a full set of clubs, mostly hand me downs from my father that were scattered throughout our basement. So for my 19^th birthday I asked my parents for my very own set of clubs. This naturally thrilled my father who had played golf for the past 30 years of his life and had always tried to get me to go out and play 18 with him. Regrettably, my answer was always no.

For about 5 years, I dragged my brand new set of clubs around with me, barely playing more than 3 times a year. When I did get out to play 18 holes, I usually was so frustrated by the end that I never wanted to play again. Good thing the social aspect kept me coming back or there would be no way I would be in the position I am today.

In April of 2008, I was asked by my father to play in a Pro-Am golf tournament. I accepted and in early May I was actually playing golf. I had fun that day, we didn’t win, but it was a great experience and I met a lot of great guys. About a month later I was invited to an annual event held in Denver, PA. This event was a 2 day, 3 round tournament where lowest net score took home one of the golf leagues most coveted majors. It was known as The Masters. After 36 holes on day 1, I was hooked. I had a blast playing golf and hanging out with some great guys. That night, I asked “how can I join your golf league?”.

I was explained the rules of the league which were simple enough to follow, so I immediately joined half way through their season and began playing as often as I could. At that time, I did not have a hectic schedule, but that would change quickly. The following season came and before I knew it, my job had me working crazy hours, I was recently engaged, and we started looking for a house. However, none of this affected my golf game in the slightest due to the unique open format of the league which allowed me to play any day of the week.

Four years later I have never looked back. I am playing 50 rounds of golf a year, I won my first order of merit and had my first hole-in-one. I’ve won three major championships in that time, and I’ve made some lifelong friends that I never knew I had. All this from a little tour called The YGS.

So how can you enjoy experiences like mine?  It all starts with you. Start a tour.  TGR makes it easy.  Then get a few friends interested in joining and you are on your way. The winning, well, that’s up to you and your game!

Matt Daley does business development for Tour Golf Revolution and helps run a golf society called the YGS. The YGS was the inspiration for the playing format of Tour Golf Revolution.